Best Seller
Hillaryland
Hardcover
$35.00
Available on Apr 27, 2027 | 480 Pages
When First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in the White House in 1993, she assembled a vibrant, diverse, and fiercely loyal group of staffers known as Hillaryland. Here for the first time is the riveting inside story of how Hillary and her team revolutionized an antiquated first lady role and forged a new path for women in politics.
After twelve years of Republican administrations, President Bill Clinton’s political rise felt like a fresh rebranding of American leadership. But journalist Lissa Muscatine understood immediately that Clinton was hardly the only changemaker. His wife, Hillary, represented something equally modern: a presidential spouse channeling her professional expertise and experience into White House policymaking and operations. Muscatine applied and was hired as a speechwriter for the new first lady, who had wasted no time building a women-led staff that would become a power center of its own. The group, nicknamed Hillaryland, pushed an ambitious FLOTUS agenda focused on women, children, families, democracy, and human rights, while Muscatine faced a related but distinct challenge: how to communicate Hillary’s priorities to a public and press conflicted over her power and positions, not to mention her hair.
Muscatine’s page-turning, behind-the-scenes account brings readers into the West Wing, where Hillary set up shop—a FLOTUS first—and into the lives of the tight-knit group of aides who provided the drive, toughness, and brains (and humor!) to advance the first lady’s agenda. Buttressed by Hillaryland, the first lady fought for her causes in the face of relentless investigations, political attacks, and cultural backlash, staring down her critics at every stage. By the end of eight years in the White House, Hillary and Hillaryland had scored historic policy achievements, modernized an outdated female role, and laid the groundwork for the first lady’s subsequent career as a US senator, secretary of state, and the first woman nominated for president by a major American political party.
Drawing on 230 interviews with Hillary’s colleagues, friends, and Hillary herself, Hillaryland is a compelling portrait of a formidable group of staffers, administration allies, policy experts, social advocates, and friends who helped a pioneering first lady not only galvanize the White House but organize women around the world into forces for change, before going on to develop a political identity of her own. A rare window into a critical moment of American history, Hillaryland is a testament to the significance of female solidarity in expanding the boundaries of women’s political power.
After twelve years of Republican administrations, President Bill Clinton’s political rise felt like a fresh rebranding of American leadership. But journalist Lissa Muscatine understood immediately that Clinton was hardly the only changemaker. His wife, Hillary, represented something equally modern: a presidential spouse channeling her professional expertise and experience into White House policymaking and operations. Muscatine applied and was hired as a speechwriter for the new first lady, who had wasted no time building a women-led staff that would become a power center of its own. The group, nicknamed Hillaryland, pushed an ambitious FLOTUS agenda focused on women, children, families, democracy, and human rights, while Muscatine faced a related but distinct challenge: how to communicate Hillary’s priorities to a public and press conflicted over her power and positions, not to mention her hair.
Muscatine’s page-turning, behind-the-scenes account brings readers into the West Wing, where Hillary set up shop—a FLOTUS first—and into the lives of the tight-knit group of aides who provided the drive, toughness, and brains (and humor!) to advance the first lady’s agenda. Buttressed by Hillaryland, the first lady fought for her causes in the face of relentless investigations, political attacks, and cultural backlash, staring down her critics at every stage. By the end of eight years in the White House, Hillary and Hillaryland had scored historic policy achievements, modernized an outdated female role, and laid the groundwork for the first lady’s subsequent career as a US senator, secretary of state, and the first woman nominated for president by a major American political party.
Drawing on 230 interviews with Hillary’s colleagues, friends, and Hillary herself, Hillaryland is a compelling portrait of a formidable group of staffers, administration allies, policy experts, social advocates, and friends who helped a pioneering first lady not only galvanize the White House but organize women around the world into forces for change, before going on to develop a political identity of her own. A rare window into a critical moment of American history, Hillaryland is a testament to the significance of female solidarity in expanding the boundaries of women’s political power.
Author
Lissa Muscatine
Lissa Muscatine joined the Clinton administration in 1993 as a presidential speechwriter and later was named deputy assistant to the president and director of communications to the first lady. She also served as chief speechwriter and senior adviser to Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. During a fifteen-year career as a journalist, she worked at The Washington Post and has contributed to The New York Times and other publications. Muscatine and her husband, Bradley Graham, are co-owners of Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC. They live in Bethesda, Maryland, and have three adult children and two rambunctious dogs.
Learn More about Lissa Muscatine
